Vice President and Associate Provost J. Nicholas Entrikin has appointed Professor Paolo Carozza to be the Director of the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

A specialist in comparative law, international law, and human rights, and with expertise in both Latin America and Europe, Carozza has wide experience with the complex interdisciplinary issues that Kellogg Institute scholars engage in their work. As a member and then President of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights from 2006 to 2010, Carozza has also been extensively involved in the practical work of addressing the abuses of past political regimes and fostering the conditions for democratic governance throughout the hemisphere. At Notre Dame Law School, he is the founding director of the innovative, interdisciplinary Program on Law and Human Development and directs the Doctorate of Juridical Science (J.S.D.) program. Recently he was appointed Director of the Center for Civil and Human Rights (CCHR), which was founded by Fr. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C. in 1973.

Major television news outlets have interviewed Professor Richard W. Garnett and Professor Carter Snead about the University of Notre Dame’s lawsuit challenging an HHS mandate on religious liberty grounds.

Today, the University of Notre Dame, along with a diverse group of universities and schools, health care providers and social welfare agencies, filed federal lawsuits challenging the Obama administration’s rule that requires many religious employers to provide coverage to their employees for sterilization, contraception and some abortion-causing drugs.

The lawsuits are efforts to “vindicate the country’s constitutional and traditional commitments to religious freedom and pluralism,” according to University of Notre Dame Law Professor Richard W. Garnett, whose teaching and scholarly research focus on constitutional law and religious freedom matters.

Adrienne M. de la Rosa has been awarded the Peter Lardy Memorial Fellowship for the 2012-13 academic year. Dedicated by the Class of 1975 to the memory of Peter A.R. Lardy and “those who exemplify his Courage, Love, and Understanding toward his fellow man,” the fellowship includes a $20,000 tuition remission for the recipient’s third year of law school.

NDLS student Brian Michel recently argued a Miranda violation case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Brian was selected for the honor after competing for an NDLS Moot Court Board position as part of the NDLS Moot Court program. The Moot Court program, which coordinates intramural and intercollegiate competitions in its appellate, trial, and international divisions, is run by NDLS students and overseen by Legal Writing Program Director Christine Venter.

“My client had been convicted of first-degree murder under the accountability theory, and sentenced to 28 years for his role in a Chicago shooting,” Michel said.

“His argument throughout trial was that the police refused to provide him with access to counsel. On appeal, we took the position that the Illinois Appellate Court had failed to look at the totality of the circumstances surrounding my client’s confession when it refused to believe his claims that he had repeatedly requested counsel during his seventeen-hour interrogation.

“Personally, I saw my involvement in this case as the highlight of my time at Notre Dame. It was rewarding to defend my client’s basic right to an attorney, a right which is so crucial to a fair criminal justice system.”

Tea Party Activist Concerned About IRS QuestionsWLWT.com
“What the IRS is trying to do is figure out how much of their activity is about supporting or opposing candidates,” said Lloyd Hitoski Mayer, associate dean at Notre Dame Law School. “Whether that’s an appropriate question depends on whether the IRS had information that he’s connected to the group that’s applying.”

Accused 9/11 plotters to appear in Guantanamo Bay court
Los Angeles Times
“The administration claims that its military commission rules have now been improved to ensure a fair and credible trial,” Douglass Cassel, a University of Notre Dame law professor and humanitarian law expert, said this week.

Will a military trial of the 9/11 suspects be credible?CNN.com
Douglass Cassel is a Notre Dame presidential fellow and professor of law at the University of Notre Dame. He has filed briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the rights of prisoners at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and accountability for human rights violations under the Alien Tort Claims Act.

Professor M. Cathleen Kaveny participated in a panel discussion with Boston College Law School Dean Vincent Rougeau at Boston College’s Church in the 21st Century Center. Joining Professor Kaveny and Dean Rougeau was the Rev. J. Bryan Hehir.